


System Error

by Oblivion_Wanderer



Category: Destiny (Video Games)
Genre: Aftermath, Gen, Hurt/Comfort, ghost needs a hug, post-fall of the City
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-07
Updated: 2018-01-07
Packaged: 2019-03-01 13:49:44
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,479
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13296195
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Oblivion_Wanderer/pseuds/Oblivion_Wanderer
Summary: The City falls, and so does Ghost.





	System Error

**Author's Note:**

> I have finally gotten around to playing Destiny and I absolutely love it. I have so many feelings and random thoughts about my Hunter and her Ghost. I started up Destiny 2 the other day just because and although I've seen the prologue events before (via a stream which got me interested in Destiny in the first place), it still makes me sad every time seeing Ghost just kinda in despair after being cut off from the Light. And so, this fic occurred, telling the events of the fall and the aftermath from his point of view.
> 
> As for my Guardian, she is a female Awoken Hunter whom I love, as well as Ghost. She also loves her Ghost. For reference, I have called my Guardian "Nelan", named after a character from a book I want to eventually write (who is also a gunslinger!).

Something’s been ripped out of him.

It’s a painful disconnect that sends a shock-wave through his small body, occurring in the span of an instant as a wave of orange light spreads across the Traveler. Normally he can’t physically feel pain, but this- he can feel _this_. Something that runs deep into his core. Something important is gone, stolen from him, and it _hurts_.

He doesn’t know what’s going on, he cant quite process it, but he feels it. Ghost turns to his Guardian in confusion and alarm, suddenly feeling weak. Something’s not right.

“Guardian… Something’s wrong...”

And he falls.

He hits the metal ground, unable to move, and his sight starts glitching out. Something pulls him back- his Guardian; Nelan. She’s draws him close, as if she’s trying to protect him, but he can barely feel her. He still can make out the Cabal in white armor though, getting closer to his Guardian; as if seeing them suffer was some kind of satisfaction.

A weak protective spark surges through Ghost. _‘_ _Don’t you dare touch her! Don’t-’_

It’s what he wants to say, but his voice isn’t working. He can only watch helplessly. That’s the most alarming thing; he can’t do anything. It’s like he’s been immobilized by whatever that Cabal did. And what’s worse is that deep within him, he feels like he’s fading away, like the Light is just...

_Gone._

He’s out before the Cabal strikes his Guardian and sends him flying off the edge.

 

* * *

 

He doesn’t know exactly what he’s seeing, or why he’s seeing it.

He sees a bird, or some kind of bird anyway, and he sees… the Traveler.

There’s water, and stone statues, and shapes falling.

There’s something in the stars, but he can’t tell what.

The scene changes and the bird reappears; flying across a body of water, towards what looks like a piece of the Traveler.

A shard.

 

* * *

 

Ghost wakes in ruins.

His optics come into focus after a couple minutes, and he almost thinks for a moment he’s back at the Collapse; his first memory. But it doesn’t take long for him to realize that is not the case. Everything is quieter, eerily quiet and still.

Confused as to what’s going on and where he is, Ghost tries to move. He manages to get himself off the ground by a few inches before falling back.

Okay, so that’s something. Was he hurt somehow?

He runs a quick check on his systems, finding that, yes, he is somewhat damaged, but not completely out of commission. He finds he’ been out for nearly two days and the damage was attributed to some kind of fall damage. So… he fell from somewhere? But from where? He’s usually with his Guardian-

Wait. His Guardian. Nelan! Where is she?

He snaps into awareness. They’re usually together, and to not see her near is a bit alarming. Worried for his Guardian, Ghost tries to reach out to Nelan, trying to see where she was, if she was okay.

But he can’t feel her.

He tries again, but there’s still nothing, not even the familiar feeling he gets from her when he reaches to her through the Light that binds them. He can’t pick up a trace of her though, there’s nothing.

He can’t feel the Light for that matter, like it’s… gone.

 _Gone_.

Suddenly the memory springs to life; him and Nelan on the airship, the Cabal looking so smug, the machine around the Traveler, casting that light over it. Something had happened to him, something had been taken from him. He could tell something was missing as he fell.

And then it clicked.

The Light _was gone._

“No...” He whispered aloud in disbelief. “I-It can’t be. The Light can’t be-”

But he can’t find it. He knows it’s gone. That’s what was stolen from him. That’s what that Cabal had done, somehow. They had taken the Light from him. And if it was taken from him, then by extension it was also gone from-

“Guardian! Nelan!”

Ghost forces himself to move, to get off the ground. He needs to find Nelan. After a few moments, he’s able to begin levitating off the ground again, and it’s only then that he gets a good look around.

He’s in the City, but everything is… dark, and many of the buildings and surroundings are damaged. He could see no one around him ether. He remembers then, that the City was under attack. He remembers seeing the Tower burn as him and Nelan flew in to aid in the fight. Cabal forces, the Red Legion, had invaded, but they were there for the Traveler as well. That machine, whatever it was, had been placed around it. He’d seen it with Nelan as they went topside on the airship, trying to establish contact.

If the Light was gone, then all Guardians, not just his, had lost their powers. That meant the Cabal could have easily taken the City. After all, they had apparently already taken the Traveler.

A startling thought then occurred to him. He last recalled being on the airship, and Nelan had been there. The shock of losing the Light would account for the sudden weakness he had felt, and Nelan must have felt something like that as well. If the damage he apparently sustained was from a fall, then it must have occurred after he lost the Light. It was a real possibility he had fallen from the airship. But then, what of Nelan?

Had… Had she been tossed from the airship too?

Now Ghost wasn’t just worried, he was scared. He hadn’t felt this scared since the Taken King incident when the cloaking device him and Nelan had been using failed in the middle of a Taken ceremony. Or when they had been ambushed on the moon for that matter. Both times he had been afraid for his Guardian, like he was now.

If she had fallen from the airship, was it even possible that she had survived?

Still, Ghost had to find her. He needed to find his Guardian.

He started to make his way through the streets in hopes of finding Nelan, and strangely enough, it took him back to when he was searching among the Cosmodrome for the one who would be his Guardian; for her. He did find her once; he could do it again.

He just hoped this time if he did find Nelan he wouldn’t find her dead.

As Ghost searched, he picked up chatter from a shaky transmission. That, and a Cabal patrol he had to hide from, confirmed his fear that they had taken the City and they were killing Guardians who had lost their Light. They’d taken everything.

He had to find Nelan and get her out of here.

So he called for her, looking everywhere he could manage. He stayed watchful of Cabal troops, but he called for her. He could tell his small body was damaged, and he was stressing it a bit, but he couldn’t give up. He couldn’t rest until he found her.

If she was really dead, then Ghost didn’t know what he would do.

After a couple hours of searching without a trace of Nelan, he was starting to think he might not find her. He’d searched for her for much longer before, but this time was different. This time he knew it was a real possibility she could be dead for good. If she had fallen from the airship, then she might not have even survived such a fall. Or maybe the Cabal had taken her captive or killed her outright after she lost the Light. Even if she had survived such a great fall, the Cabal still could have found her and killed her now that she was without her light. Ghost didn’t know which would be worse; knowing the Cabal had killed her or seeing her dead and broken body for himself.

They might as well have killed her ether way.

Even with these doubts rising, knowing how likely it was, he still calls for her. “Guardian!”

He moves under some rubble and through a tunnel. If she hadn’t turned up now, maybe he would never find her. He couldn’t give up, but…

“Guardian!” Ghost calls again, desperate.

He looks around for her, at the same time, taking in the chaos. All of this the Cabal had done.

He remembered once Nelan had a nightmare after the Taken King was dealt with, and she explained the concept of a nightmare to him. Ghost himself didn’t dream, he didn’t technically sleep ether though he did have “rest cycles”, but if he could dream, and he did have a nightmare, he imagined this is what it would be like. It was like Nelan had explained to him in what seemed like so long ago.

The City under Cabal control, the Traveler taken, Nelan missing- This was a nightmare.

“This is awful- Awful!” He lamented.

And past all the destruction, he worried for his Guardian, that she was dead; forever lost.

Maybe she was dead.

If... If she fell from the airship- A fall like that- she had to be dead. There was no way. She was so much more fragile than him. The Cabal had taken both the Light and his Guardian from him.

He felt so alone.

“This can’t be happening...”

Like so long ago during his initial search for his Guardian, Ghost felt on the edge of just to giving up and accepting something he so desperately didn't want to believe. Nelan was likely dead and he’d never see her again. Even if he did find her, if she was truly gone, he couldn’t bring her back. 

Maybe he should give up.

And then… Then there’s a noise, and he turns…

...and finds Nelan.

“Guardian?”

She’s collapsed onto the ground; on her knees, an arm wrapped around her midsection, and looking badly hurt. Ghost isn’t sure how she survived if they both fell from that airship, maybe some residual of the Light saved them as it was stolen from them both, but none the less, he’s relieved she’s alive; that he found her. He can’t even begin to process how happy he was to see she was alive.

Ghost hovers down near her, wanting to see her face.

“You’re alive!” He exclaims, and then goes quiet. “I… I thought I lost you.”

Nelan looks up at him, and Ghost does what he can to at least heal her. He lights up and starts the process, like he’s done many times before. It eats away at whatever energy he has left, but he had to help her. It worked at least, as soon she’s back on her feet.

“I can heal you,” Ghost says to her. “but I can’t resurrect you. Not since...”

He trails off, the thought too horrible, though it is the reality. Healing her, coupled with his own damage, is starting to wear on him and he starts to drop again, only to fall into the hands of his Guardian. He’s grateful she had the foresight to catch him; it feels so good to be back in her gentle grasp, knowing she wasn’t dead.

“Ghost.” Her voice says, sounding just as tired, and yet sad.

He twitches in her hands and decides to tell her what she probably already knew, even if she hadn’t had time to process it or realize it. For all he knew, Nelan had been out as long as he had. Ghost could at least try to soften the blow, even if it was devastating to the both of them.

“Guardian… the Light is gone.” He admits, more out of a delayed shock that anything. Part of him is still trying to process it.

“What…?”

“They’ve taken the City, the Traveler, everything.” He sadly explained. “The Red Legion is killing powerless Guardians.”

“The Cabal.” Nelan replied, looking distant. “The Light- So it is gone… I felt it on the airship. I just didn’t...”

She didn’t finish that sentence, but nothing more needed to be said.

“We have to get out of here...” Ghost said. Nelan gave a nod, and started making her way forward through the wreckage, holding Ghost in one hand and cradling him close. Ghost didn’t want to go anywhere, really; not when he was back by her side.

They quickly found their way through the ruins and discovered a hole in the wall. Nelan carried him through, and she dropped down into a path. They were relatively safe in this secluded area, for the time being.

As they traveled through, something faint caught Ghost’s attention.

“I’m picking up an emergency broadcast.” He informed Nelan, but the chatter he was hearing... “Rendezvous coordinates. They’re evacuating the planet.”

They were completely alone… without allies and without the Light.

“We’re on our own...”

The path they were following eventually let out into open air, and to the other side of the Wall. A gaping hole had been blasted through it. Normally, they weren’t allowed to go beyond the wall here, but at this point, they had no choice but to press on.

“How long was I out?” Nelan asked once they were in the woods, leaving the City behind. “When I woke, it was shortly before you found me. I think… I think I had been drifting in and out of it before then, but I’m not sure how much time passed.”

“My systems say I was nearly down for two days.” Ghost replied. “The City fell two days ago, and I gathered what intel I could as I searched for you. I was searching for a couple hours before I found you again.”

“Two days then...” She echoed.

They continued on in relative silence for a remainder of that day, save for Ghost having to remind her to keep her eyes open for any source of food or water. He didn’t want her dying of starvation or thirst.

Later in the day they stopped to rest, and take time to really let what happened sink in.

“I don’t remember what happened after the Cabal stole the Light from us.” Ghost said, laying on Nelan’s scorched cloak, which was folded atop her lap, though the cloak didn’t look much different than before. Nelan had kept the same cloak since she took it up from her dead comrade. “I saw that one Cabal in white, and felt like something had been torn from me.”

“Not much to tell.” His Guardian quietly responded. “It was all so disorienting. That Cabal- Ghaul, he called himself. He said the Light was his now. I tried to protect you, but you slipped from my grasp and fell down into the City when he kicked me away. Then he pushed me off the edge too.”

Just as he suspected.

“Ghaul, you say. What does he want with the Traveler?”

Nelan didn’t respond right away, and Ghost was about to ask if she was okay, when she did speak.

“Back there on the airship- I thought I lost you, Ghost.”

Ghost angled his optic eye up at her. “Never, Nelan.”

She smiled slightly, though it didn’t make anything better.

 

* * *

 

Sometime later, as they continued to trudge though the wilderness, Ghost saw a bird perched on a rock; a falcon. When they got close to it, the falcon chirped and flew off into the air.

That bird… it reminded Ghost of what he had seen before he woke in the ruined city. He couldn’t necessarily call it a dream- no, it was more like… like a vision. But why? For what purpose?

Ghost didn’t have time to ponder these thoughts, as they wandered into a camp that had been abandoned. He could pick out the bodies of dead Guardians and a forgotten transmission playing nearby.

“These Guardians…” Ghost sadly observed. “They had no chance without their powers. That could be us.”

Nelan quietly approached each one, and found their respective Ghosts. She knelt down and said a prayer for each one; as was her custom for when she came across dead Ghosts or Guardians.

"May you find comfort in the Traveler's Light, and may it lead you to peace."

So she still said it, even when the Light was gone.

Ghost waited till she was done to speak again. “Guardian, if you die… I- I can’t resurrect you. We need to be very careful.”

Nelan lifted Ghost up so she was in his sight. She looked sad. “I know.” She turned her head, looking at the lifeless Guardians. “This is cruel. They were slaughtered. Why are they doing this to us?”

They said nothing more and Nelan scavenged what was left, finding ammunition for her gun (damaged, but still working) in case they run into trouble. Ghost remembered the first time she held a weapon; a scout rifle. She was clumsy with it at first, apparently having little experience with guns, and almost getting herself shot by Fallen no less than three times that day, but she had come a long way since then. Ghost had faith Nelan could hold her own. He just hoped it be enough to keep them alive.

They then left the camp and kept going.

 

* * *

 

The ground had become snowy as they entered a more mountainous area, and Nelan had finally convinced Ghost to vanish for the time being until they could get on more even ground. He agreed, and he was still with her, of course; invisibly remaining near her and keeping an eye on her vitals.

The cry of a bird caught his attention again, and he found it was the same falcon from before.

“It’s that falcon again. Is it following us?...Or are we following it?” He pondered. He recalled the vision again, and decided to say something about it. The appearance of the falcon couldn’t be just coincidence.

But Nelan beat him to it.

“Ghost.” She spoke, pausing in her steps. “After… after Ghaul pushed me off the airship, after it went dark, I… I had a- well, it was like a dream, but it wasn’t. I saw the Traveler, things I didn’t understand. I saw a bird, just like that one, fly towards something that almost looked like it was _a part_ of the Traveler.”

“A shard?” This time Ghost couldn’t help but materialize in front of her.

“Yes. You saw it too?”

“I did. It’s like you said, which is strange, considering I can’t dream, but I’m certain the falcon was there. It was flying to the Shard.”

“Why did we both experience the same vision then? How could we?”

“I don’t know. Maybe some residual of the Light before… before it...” He hovered low again and Nelan reached out a hand, ready to catch him.

“Don’t strain yourself. You fell off an airship.”

“So did you.”

Nelan’s lips twitched into a brief smile. “Stay hidden until we’re on even ground. I’m not losing you again.”

Ghost did as she said, watching through her eyes as she traveled through the mountains. At a clearing, a good view of the city was visible, as well as the trapped Traveler with that awful machine around it. It hurt Ghost to look at it, reminding him that their shared Light was gone. He was cut off from the one constant he ever knew; what had given him life in the Collapse.

Eventually, the mountains gave way to a valley and they came across the falcon again. By now, he suspected that maybe they were following it, and that it was leading them somewhere. Where that place was, Ghost didn’t know. They’d find out soon enough though.

They found the falcon sitting on a ledge across a gap. It was just staring at them, as if waiting.

“Um, I don’t think you should try to make that jump.” Ghost advised.

But of course, Nelan tried to jump across anyway, claiming she thought she saw something beyond where the bird was. For her effort though, she did almost make it in range. She just barely missed grabbing onto the ledge.

When Nelan’s body hit the ground, Ghost materialized and hovered down close to her face. It wasn't too far of a fall, but he was still concerned.

“Gaurdian? Nelan? Are you alright?” He called, a bit startled. “Can you hear me? Guardian...”

The muscles in her face twitched and if he could, Ghost would have breathed a sigh of relief. She was probably just disoriented from the fall. A shadow fell over them just then and Ghost whirled around, almost thinking a Cabal had found them. Instead, it was a Human that had approached; the hood of her cloak drawn up over her head and a weapon slung over her shoulder. Ghost turned back to his Guardian, seeing her icy blue eyes open, and then back to the Human, who was now extending a hand for Nelan. Ghost moved out of the way.

“Well, well- looks like someone left a perfectly good Guardian lying around.” The Human spoke as she got Nelan to her feet. Ghost looked to Nelan, who looked like she was trying to say something, but there was a sudden boom from somewhere in the distance. Nelan anxiously looked around, while the Human looked unfazed. “And that’s our cue.”

The Human started to walk away back to some people in a clearing working on ships. Ghost couldn't help but blurt out, “But wait! Where- Where are you all going?”

The Human turned back to them. “As far away from here as possible.”

The cry of the falcon came again and they looked up just in time to see the bird come down to them. The falcon flew landed on the Human’s outstretched arm, the same falcon they’d been following.

“That falcon- it belongs to you?” Ghost asked.

“The name’s Hawthorne. And this is Lewis; best pilot we’ve got.” The Human, Hawthorne, then turned to Nelan. “What about you? Fit to fly?”

Ghost saw his Guardian give a nod. He had always thought Nelan had a knack for flying, even if she flew too fast sometimes for her own good (he still remembered when she ‘crashed’ them on the dreadnaught). When they had first met, she had adapted to flying a craft quicker than getting control of a weapon. Maybe she had been a pilot in her past life before he had found her. He did find her near a ship that had long since crashed, which was also where her name came from; something from what data he could gather and one that he suggested to her simply on that happenstance. The ship had belonged to someone of the same name, so maybe Nelan had been the pilot all along. Might explain how she ended up in the Cosmodrome in the first place.

Hawthorne tossed Nelan a weapon, and she took a moment to examine it. Nelan did that mostly to get a feel for the weapon she was carrying, as she did with all new weaponry. It helped her in someway apparently.

“Time to make yourself useful “Guardian”.” Hawthrone said to Nelan before turning back to her people, Lewis accompanying her. Ghost got a strange feeling on how Hawthrone had said the word “Guardian”, but he paid it no mind for now.

Ghost followed his Guardian to a waiting ship, watching as she climbed in and then following afterward. It would seem that for now, they were safe.

When Nelan closed them in and started up the engines, Ghost floated down to rest on her lap, tired and worn. Knowing the Light was gone from him was quite an exhausting adjustment.

“Ghost.” She said again, this time in a quiet whisper, bringing a hand to gently touch at one of the corners of his shell.

“I’m fine.” He assured her.

“Ghost.” She repeated. She took her cloak off and folded it up again to place on her lap, then placing Ghost on top of it. “Little light, you’re hurt. Rest; I’ll do the flying.”

When had she last spoken that nickname to him? It was a common nickname that Guardians often called their Ghosts, to which most found annoying, but this Ghost didn't mind it much, and he was okay with it. Or maybe that was just because it came from Nelan and always said in a way that made him feel safe, not condescending. Well, at first when she had used it on Venus he didn't really like it, but that was because that Exo had said it first, and he'd been annoyed by that. He forgave Nelan for it because she didn't know. Later on when they were hunting down a firing pin for a weapon (which turned out to be more trouble than it was worth), she'd said it again, though adding if he didn't want her to use it, she wouldn't; she was just feeling sentimental. That time Ghost didn't really mind, and he allowed it. He was okay with it if it was her; only her.

“Well, you are a good pilot," He admitted. "even if you go too fast sometimes.”

Nelan chuckled, and she ran her fingers across the top of his scuffed and burned shell again.

 

* * *

 

“Coming up on the European Dead Zone.” Hawthorne told them over the coms. “Gonna be our new home for a while.”

Ghost, stirred by the announcement, managed to float up a little bit to see where they were going. Something about the name sounded familiar.

They were traveling across water, towards land, and towards a large and broken mass crackling with electricity and energy. The shape of it struck familiarity in Ghost- it was the shard from the vision, the piece of the Traveler.

He felt a spark of hope buzz through his circuits.

“Look! Do you recognize it?” Ghost weakly spoke up, instantly recognizing the shape. “That’s where we’re supposed to go!”

“That?” Hawthorne spoke. “They call it the Shard of the Traveler, but I call it “not a place you want to go poking around”.”

“The Shard of the Traveler.” Ghost repeated, floating back down to lay on his Guardian’s folded cloak. She took one hand off the control to rest it atop his shell.

“Rest, Ghost.” Nelan insisted. “I do know it. We’ll get there; there’s a reason we saw it. And once we find answers, I’ll fix up your shell, okay?”

He made an electronic noise of acknowledgment, but now that he had seen the Shard, he almost felt like something out there was calling him. He didn’t know if Nelan could feel it, and it was faint within Ghost, but it was there. Maybe the answers to the vision were there, perhaps even a way back to the Light.

Ghost could only hope that they would find their answers at the Shard. Hope was about all ether of them had left.


End file.
